"Big Unit" gets 300th win in Giants' victory
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dominant left-hander Randy Johnson earned his place in history with his 300th career win in the San Francisco Giants' 5-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday.
Johnson completed six innings to become the 24th pitcher to reach the milestone and just the sixth left-hander. The 45-year-old is also the second-oldest pitcher to achieve the feat behind Phil Niekro, who was 46 when he won his 300th in 1985.
"This is hard to describe," Johnson told reporters.
"This is a long-term thing that's been going on for 21 years and you get to this day and know that if you pitch well and your team plays well that something can happen that has only happened 24 other times.
"It's been a long road. I'm just happy."
Nicknamed 'Big Unit' because of his 6-foot-10 frame, Johnson had to wait an extra day for his chance at history when Wednesday's game was rained out and Thursday's was delayed 36 minutes due to weather.
The five-time Cy Young winner was up for the challenge in the make-up game, however, allowing only two hits while facing just four batters above the minimum.
Relief pitchers Brandon Medders, Jeremy Affeldt and Brian Wilson handled the latter innings to secure the treasured victory.
SPOILED CHANCE
Washington had a chance to spoil the day for Johnson when they loaded the bases trailing 2-1 in the eighth, but the Giants' Wilson struck out Adam Dunn to cancel the threat.
San Francisco right fielder Randy Winn had a two-RBI double in the ninth where the Giants tacked on three more runs and have now won seven of their last nine contests.
The Giants then signed off in style, winning the rain-shortened second game of the double-header 4-1 after it was called in the top of the sixth inning to notch their seventh victory in nine starts.
In the first contest, Johnson added two strikeouts to bring his astounding total to 4,845 -- the second highest ever.
Lauded as a strikeout specialist for much of his career, Johnson has also been an efficient winner, with the fourth-best winning percentage of all pitchers with 300 wins.
"To me, wins have always outweighed strikeouts," Johnson said. "Strikeouts are great in their own way, but I wanted to be more known for winning games."
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Ian Ransom)
